Yesterday I was reading something that Julie Klausner wrote about pets and the things we learn about ourselves through caring for them and what we learn from saying goodbye to them. You should read it, because Julie is great and so are her pets.

Reading that article reminded me of two things: The fact that my pit bull Daisy is my best friend in the world and that I would gladly give up years off of my life if I could give that time to my her. This may sound crazy but you have to understand that my life was a pile of garbage until Nina and Daisy showed up. Statistically speaking, Nina will outlive me so she doesn’t need my years but my dog is unlikely to outlive me.

I realize that I am unable to transfer my time to another living thing, no matter how much I want to. Someday I will have to say goodbye to my dog, who is already 12 years old and has already battled cancer (and won). For me, the best way to deal my dog’s mortality is to think of every day I have with her as a gift and to act accordingly. I also take a lot of pictures. Like these:

My wife is the more practical (less crazy) person in our marriage. Caring for pit bulls and changing perceptions about them is her passion. My wife loves Daisy as much as I do but she is better prepared to handle the things I have trouble with; she says that saying goodbye is the price we pay for the unconditional love we get from our pets. I know she is right but I’d rather we all just live together for another 50 years. Until this is possible we will just try to take care of our dog and help as many other dogs as we can. One of the ways my wife is working to help other dogs is by dedicating her upcoming 40th birthday to raising money for homeless dogs; you can read more about it here. We think this is a really great cause and if you can help, even by just spreading the word, it would be greatly appreciated. Here’s that link again.

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3 responses to “Dogs and Cats and Doing Good Things”

I feel the same way about my dog, Jacques. He is the fourth dog of my adult life and my joy and my buddy. I’m grateful for every day with him. I also have two cats and helped support cat rescue efforts.